Toronto Ad Shop Creates A Twitter Powered #HomelessTurkey Campaign In An Effort To Feed Cities Homeless

Toronto Ad agency BlackJet develops a Twitter hashtag powered turkey feeder to help feed our city's homeless this Thanksgiving.

For every 1000 tweets that include the hashtag #HomelessTurkey,
10 turkeys will be donated to Good Shepherd Ministries annual Thanksgiving meal.

Press:

TORONTO, ON (October 9, 2013) Blackjet Inc., a Toronto-based marketing agency,

launched today an innovative digital campaign to increase awareness for their client,

Good Shepherd, a food and service provider for the city’s homeless. The concept is

simple – every time someone includes #HomelessTurkey in a tweet, a small portion of

feed will be dispensed from a Blackjet custom-built and programmed hashtag-powered

feeder to three lucky turkeys that have been spared from their Thanksgiving fate. For

every 1000 tweets that includes the hashtag #HomelessTurkey before October 10, 10

turkeys will be donated to Good Shepherd’s annual Thanksgiving meal. The campaign

is a pro-bono initiative for the agency.

Blackjet’s custom turkey feeder is powered by a trough-auger, controlled via a USB

relay, which connects to a server that scours Twitter for all tweets containing the

hashtag #HomelessTurkey. When the hashtag is used, the server activates

the USB relay, which near-instantly feeds the turkeys.

Tweet a turkey and watch it eat live now at HomelessTurkey.com.

Blackjet enlisted Thunderclap to help amplify social reach and awareness, in turn

maximizing the number of turkeys to be donated to Good Shepherd. Thunderclap, a

social media crowdspeaking platform, will broadcast a message tomorrow from the

accounts of all #HomelessTurkey campaign supporters, reaching an additional 120,000

potential supporters at the exact same time.

Also beginning today is a three-day, on-site activation at the corner of Queen and Soho

Sts. in Toronto, where a live feed of the hashtag-fed turkeys (comfortable on a farm in

New Tecumseth, ON) will stream daily from 10:00 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET. The live stream will

be accompanied by a street team who will educate passersby on the Good Shepherd’s

services for Toronto’s homeless.

Good Shepherd serves more than 1200 free meals to the homeless everyday, more

than any other organization in Toronto. Well known on the streets of Toronto as a place

to get a hot meal, clean clothes and a safe, clean bed for the night, Good Shepherd is a

leading provider of comprehensive services to homeless, disadvantaged and

marginalized people in the city.